The story was basically this.

Arsenal played 4 halves of football against AC Milan, over two legs, over two weeks. They dominated each one of those, and in the 4th half, they scored 2 goals. Think of it as superiority paying off.

"We're on our way, we're on our way,
We're going to Moscow, we're on our way,
How we get there we don't know!
How we get there we don't care!
All we know is that we're on our way!"

It was a cold night at the San Siro, and with near 5,000 of us packed high up into the away end at the San Siro, we needed to be in good voice and good spirits to keep warm. The atmosphere of the San Siro was eventually slightly overrated, the Milan fans made a bit of noise pre-kickoff, unleashed a whole bunch of glitter and cheers as the game started, had a few bouts of whistling, and went absolutely crazy for about 3 or 4 seconds right at the start when Kaka did a trick. Otherwise, they were mostly a passive bunch, and got quieter and quieter as the saw Arsenal take control. The euphoria for us of Cesc's goal was met by a steady flow of Milan fans making way for the exits.

The Arsenal dominated Milan on the pitch, and the Arsenal fans dominated Milan fans in the stands, and you can't say that victory for either was undeserved.

There have been enough details about the game all across newspapers and the web for me to not bother too much with details, but the team was just outstanding. Manu Eboue was the only lacklustre performer, seeming more mentally uninvolved than anything else - wasting the ball, avoiding tackles, and running lazily. He dived, and was fortunate to not be severely punished when badly fouling Paolo Maldini. Even Abou Diaby, he of recently lazy form, stepped up his game to an acceptable level.

Milan were disappointing really - although Flamini had Kaka in his pocket (and Cesc made sure he put him back in there whenever he popped his head out), the Brazilian didn't really know what to do or where to go. As a result he tried to go it alone, and with young Pato confused, and Pippo Inzaghi having one of his more primadonna-esque games, he failed to have an impact.

They missed Seedorf, yes, but I'm not sure that Milan could have put out a better side with this squad that they have. It's far too aged and predictable, and they will really be doing some serious shopping this summer. They lack dynamism, and need a bit of freshness.

Pato will of course be a big plus for them, he was their best attacker on the night, and at 18 he already has the ability to compete, all he lacks is the experience.

For Arsenal, it will be a huge boost after a bad Novemeber. They are only a point clear at the top now, and will need to refocus now; the win in Milan will have given them the belief to do that.

Of course, the big challenge now is to go to Wigan and win on Sunday. On Tuesday, Arsenal outplayed and outfought a Milan side on a great pitch with great players who had to attack to win. On Sunday, Arsenal will have to play a Wigan side on a simply awful pitch, against some dodgy players who will be fighting to not lose. It will involve a fair amount of steel, patience, and tactical flexibility. Nicklas Bendtner might have a role to play, since Arsenal will need to seriously consider the direct route - through balls, and little one-two passes are going to be disrupted by the rough surface and the (possibly) rough tackling.

They can possibly lose just one more game this season, and draw two at the maximum, without losing the title - even those estimates are probably a bit generous.

Arsenal are supposed to be going to Il Duomo this afternoon, so I'll be rushing there soon to see if I can catch them.

Arsenal fans have been out in the top tiers on the South End of the San Siro, and with my ticket in hand, I'm looking forward to game and the atmosphere.

The big team news is that Van Persie is in the squad, but obviously won't be close to starting fitness, expect to see him if we are in desperate need of a goal, an injury situation, a great counter-attacking situation, or if we are winning 6-0 and want to give him a bit of a run out. Hmmmm.

It would have been nice to have Rosicky back for this game, but he's injured (as usual).

Arsenal really need to do well here to give themselves a pick-me-up. They're still top of the league by a point, but the form has been badly patchy. It's like their November has come in February, and it's included the 0-0 from the first leg, 2-2 with Brum, 1-1 with Villa, 0-4 to Man United and the 1-5 Carling Cup debacle with Spurs. Wins are required now, and tonight is the perfect occasion for the boys to show what they're made of.

As for Milan, they have all their players fit, although there's a doubt over Clarence Seedorf. They will be more attacking tonight, giving Arsenal a bit more space perhaps, but also posing a lot more questions for the Gunners' defence, something which they almost entirely failed to do in the first leg.

So that's that then, more updates from after the game, and hopefully some pictures, but keep your fingers crossed!

Arsenal were buzzing tonight. Their movement and passing were as precise as they've ever been this season., and were it not for Emmanuel Adebayor having an off-day (and Eduardo not doing much better), they would and should have had a two goal advantage going into the second leg.

Against Blackburn, Ade had a shocker, but came up with a late goal. Today against Milan, Ade was slightly less shocking (only just), but failed to score, somehow putting a header against the crossbar from point blank range after a great cross from Theo Walcott. This was in the 93rd minute of the game, and it ensured that Arsenal would get no reward for there endeavour.

His other contribution (or lack thereof) was a simple square pass to Fabregas, who was unmarked and right in front of the 'keeper, which he overhit. The ball went frustratingly away from Cesc's run, and deprived us of what would very likely have been a goal.

And what endeavour it was! Flamini was bossy and tidy, Hleb ran and dribbled all over the pitch, and Cesc produced some pinpoint balls. The interplay between the three was especially magical to watch, and they were complemented well by the overlapping Sagna and Clichy.

The defence was excellent overall, perhaps not as impressive as Milan's, but enough to keep Kaka, Pato and Seedorf completely quiet. Toure had to go off early injured, but Senderos came on and had a stormer.

Theo had a nice cameo, running at the tired Milan defence, and Bendtner caused some troubles with his height and touch.

Milan's lack of ambition was surprising. Arsenal outplayed them, no questions asked, but apart from Pato's attempts, there was very little else. Kaka was largely anonymous, apart from a few threatening crosses, and Seedorf was very, very deep the entire game. They should have been playing for an away goal, and Arsenal will be kicking themselves at having dominated a defensive team, but not having scored.

Well, I suppose this all makes it more exciting for yours truly! I've got my hands on an away ticket to the San Siro, so it's going to be a tense encounter there! 

A lot of Arsenal fans are quite happy with the Milan draw. I am too, but because it's going to be a good contest, with brilliant football and matchups, NOT because I think it will be a walkover like others fans seem too. It's a great chance for Arsenal to progress, because playing against a defensive team would be harder, but a lot of people have this perception of AC Milan as being full of "ageing old man" and a one-man-team based on Kaka.

People seem to easily overlook Andrea Pirlo in any mentions, but he's the most important player for them. Kaka is replaceable, and they can win without him, but not without Pirlo. The key is the Kaka-Pirlo-Seedorf trio, because they are constantly operating together all over the pitch. They are not as much of a one-man team as everyone is making them out to be. Kaka and Seedorf drag defenders all over the place, and rarely lose the ball even when under pressure, and Inzaghi is always there waiting to move into the space they create. Gilardino is finally playing well consistently too.

As for Kaka, even though I don't think Milan are a one man team, he's still their best shot at winning matches, and can do so on his own. Arsenal don't have anyone like that in the squad, who can just turn it on and take on the opposition like Thierry Henry used to, so everybody has to be playing well. Let's hope they are.

Milan aren't playing that well, and they generally don't create that many chances, but they have players like Inzaghi, Ronaldo, Kaka and Seedorf on the end of them, and those guys don't miss. Arsenal create loads of chances, but have Adebayor, Hleb, and Rosicky frustratingly missing most of them. Cesc is more clinical this season, but Robin Van Persie will be crucial.

Also, Ronaldo will be fit and ready by then - you can never rule him out, and don't forget about Pato... he is eligible from Jan 3rd onwards, and even though he's still quite raw, he's got amazing natural ability. I saw him play in only his 7th or 8th start for Internacional, and he completely tore Carles Puyol to pieces.

As for Gattuso, he's got a reptuation for being a nutter and a hardman ni midfield, but he's really not that physical. The Premiership offers much tougher tests, and he gets more of a reputation for that than he should, probably because he's such an oddity for an Italian/Serie A player. I was never a big fan of his, but he's worked hard on his game, and his ability to foul tactically is tremendous. Physically, his main asset is the non-stop running, which I guess is Flamini's as well, but Gattuso is much quicker than Flam, and so can press harder and faster. They also play with two defensive midfielders, and Ambrosini is definitely the stronger of the two. If Emerson plays I think Arsenal will take over the midfield, because he's completely past it.

Milan's main weakness is that fact that they don't have any fullbacks. Jankulovski and Oddo are clueless, but love going forward. Maldini and Bonera are basically centrebacks, and are on the slower side. Ancelotti has this really bizarrely weird habit of only playing them in pairs, so it will either be Maldini and Bonera, or Oddo and Jankulovski. They are still class in the centre of defence, but Kaladze has his dodgy moments. Adebayor will be key against them.

Ultimately Arsenal's main strength will be pace, especially with the fullbacks. Even with Jankulovski and Oddo bombing forward, those guys aren't super quick, and Milan don't attack with as much pace (Kaka excepted). I think that's always been Wenger's strength against the Italian teams, especially when he lets them attack with their slow buildup and then massacres them on the counters.

I think Arsene's record against Italian teams so far (post Wembley) is: P 10, W 5, D 3, L 2

That's home wins against Juventus (x2) and Lazio, and wins away to Inter and Roma. The draws were away to Lazio, where we were unlucky to conede an own goal, away to Juve when we had already won 2-0 at Highbury in the first leg, and a really poor 1-1 home draw to Roma after Totti had been sent off. The losses were of course the 3-0 at home to Inter, and the 1-0 away to Juve where we were virtually out of the group stage already, and Thierry Henry missed a penalty.

That's only 3 bad showings in 10 games, and all of those were in the group stages. Arsenal have won all their knockout stage ties against Italian sides, so the signs are good.

Well, closest to home, Arsenal lost 1-0 to PSV in Eindhoven and have it all to do now. They dominated the first half, probably should have scored at least one, if not two, and then started to get sloppy in the second half and Edison Mendez fired a longe range shot in. It was very shabby all in all, the defence just let him have a go and Lehmann didn't react at all. The shot wasn't the greatest, but it did the job. The Arse tried to forward, and PSV looked very threatening on the counter-attack. That worries me for the second leg, because PSV are very clever and adept, and they will probably adopt the same strategy of trying to hit Arsenal on the break, and being very stubborn to break down. One away goal and, in my mind, the tie is over. Arsenal look a bit tired, bereft of attacking threat, and most importanly Thierry Henry is in his worst patch of form since joining the club. He doesn't look confident, he can't outrun people, can't beat them, is showing a very sloppy touch, and generally doesn't look like threatening or brilliant. It doesn't help that he seems petulant, disaffected and a bit disinterested. Maybe he needs a rest, maybe he needs to be tripped off the armband, maybe he needs a good telling off, but realistically none of those are going to happen because with Robin Van Persie out, and Julio Baptista showing all the touch and composure of a boxer, he has to play. But quite honestly this season, we have played some of our best stuff without him, and he really hampers the team on days like this. Last season, and at several points over his Arsenal career, he has carried the team, but right now the team has to carry him, and the weight seems to be too much to bear. Hopefully he can reach into that moody mind of his and bring out that fire that seems to be lacking.

At Parkhead, Celtic played out a 0-0 draw at home to AC Milan, and I think that's a great result for them. Milan are having a terrible season domestically, and are under pressure to do well in the Champions League. Wee Gordon Strachan has got his team playing decently, and with committment, physicality and Shunsuke Nakamura, Celtic have every chance of making it through. The Scots play very "British" football - they will fight for everything, never give up, and with Nakamura there is always the danger of them scoring from a free-kick, or having the Japan international create chances for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink or Jiri Jarosik. If they score first, they will fight unbelievably to try and hold on, and if Milan score first you can be sure they'll sweat blood trying to equalise. Either way that away goal will be important, and I see Milan having to score at least 2 to go through.

In Madrid, two ailing European giants squared up against each other. Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 3-2, but those two away goals are crucial for the Germans. Both teams are former European champions, and stalwarts in the Champions League, but they are struggling badly in their respective leagues. Real have always been known for patches of comedy and inconsistency, but Bayern have always had a reputation for consistency and toughness. This year both are hovering around the top of their leagues, but unable to seriously challenge for anything. The Real circus has proved very difficult to stop, and Bayern have attempted to rectify things by bringing back the legendary Ottmar Hitzeld, their former coach and man who has won two Champions League titles. Raul scored 2 and Ruud van Horsefacerooij the other as Real went up 3-1 in the first half, Lucio had briefly answered for the Bavarians. But if Bayern were sloppy in the first, then Real were in the second, and they conceded a very late goal, Mark van Bommel scoring to make it 3-2. That's a significant away goal advantage, and I think Bayern can pinch the goal they need. Real are on the way down - Capello has been unpopular and not too effective, and has allegedly tried to hand in his resignation, but Hitzfeld has only just arrived in Munich and is still working his magic. By the time March 7 rolls around I expect Bayern will be in much better shape.

And lastly to Lille, and the most controversial game of the round so far. Man United won 1-0 right at the death with a quickly-taken free-kick that Lille were very unhappy about. The Lille players walked off the pitch in protest, and there was chaos everywhere. The fans were enraged and throwing things on the field, and it was not just Giggs' goal that made them unhappy, but the fact that Peter Odemwingie had had what seemed like a perfectly good header disallowed for a foul earlier in the match. It was a game that Lille had been brightest in, driving forward and attacking United's goal, but eventually United had more experience and solidity. You can't really blame them for taking a quick free-kick because the referee allowed them too, but at the same time the referee did not do a particularly good job. I still think it's not over for Lille, and the second leg will be interesting because Lille are a very, very feisty side. Having conceded an away goal, they will have nothing to lose, so the second leg in Manchester looks like it will be a very, very exciting game.

Well what a Milan Derby it was. AC Milan losing 4-3 at "home" to Internazionale. Inter went 3-0 up with goals from Crespo, Stankovic and Ibrahimovic, before Seedorf pulled one back. Materazzi then scored to make it 4-1, before Gilardino narrowed the gap to 2 with 15 minutes left to play, and then Kaka scored at the death to make it a tense finish. But Inter prevailed, and they deserved their victory. In a moment of controversy, Materazzi was sent off for a second bookable offence for "over-celebrating his goal". Now although Materazzi is one of the dirtier characters around, and has done enough in his career to be sent off a million times, giving him a second yellow card for this was very harsh. He didn't even take his shirt fully off, and you'd expect the referee to shown a little bit of understanding considering that it was such a big event.

On a side note, it's very disappointing that the guilty Italian sides have had their penalties reduced. Especially Juve, who have been cheating for years. They've only got caught recently, but they've been at it for very very long, and who knows how much of that success of theirs is legitimate. No backbone or courage has been shown in dealing with these teams, and it's an absolute let down. They should have been banned from Europe as well, but I think we all know now that FIFA and UEFA and everyone else is more interested in just worrying about the money and maintaining the status quo.

Teams like Inter and Roma have suffered for years, and I hope they really do well this season, because who knows what it will be like next year with Juve (probably) back in Serie A. Italian fans are amongst the most passionate in the world, and surely they should be creating more opposition to the spinelessness of the Italian FA and their pathetic attempts at dealing with match fixers. On the one hand we have billionaires like Roman Abramovich destroying the game by throwing money at everything, but you still hope that on any given day, the magic of football will prevail, and that anything could happen (and all the other cliches), because it's stil eleven versus eleven in a fair contest. But if you can't even guarantee the opposition being given a fair chance, then what is the point of it all?

Sigh. Well on a more upbeat note, we've enjoyed a very positive response to our first day or two of being up and running. Lots of visitors, and we hope there's lots more to come. If you're visting, Join up or leave us suggestions or comments. We'd love to have people on board and blogging with us, and getting involved in our community. AND, don't forget to enter our contest for you to go blog in Tokyo, it's a great opportunity to get involved with our organisation, and get involved with the world of football.